On page 82 of the programme for Government, "Working to Make Our Older Years Better Years", the Government promised to keep our older people active and independent in the community. This Saturday and the following Saturday, being St. Patrick's Day, both Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I have organised two buses to Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast for people to have cataract operations done. These will be the fifth and sixth buses to travel from west Cork, Cork County and Kerry to Northern Ireland in the past few months. I am appalled by the long waiting lists for the elderly and children who must wait for a simple cataract procedure, some waiting four to five years for a 15-minute procedure. For those in the Irish Republic, it is Belfast or blindness. Will this Government take urgent steps to deal with this issue? I am acutely aware that while these older people will be travelling to Belfast for vital cateract procedures to save their sight, our Taoiseach and Ministers and the Tánaiste himself will also be out of the country and spread throughout the world on St. Patrick's Day. I sincerely hope they will spare a thought for the people forced to leave this country for Belfast on that day.

I think most people understand the value of Ministers leaving for St. Patrick's Day. We are a country that, from an economic perspective, relies on trade in an open economy and we have a very large and supportive diaspora right across the world to which we reach out at this time of year. If the Deputy is suggesting we should perhaps not do this because there are-----

I am not. I am just asking the Tánaiste to spare a thought.

-----pressures at home, I do not accept that. I accept there are areas where the health services need to deliver to address waiting lists. Regarding cataracts, one of the ways in which we can ensure that people get the treatment they need quickly while the health service is being improved and reformed is to undertake operations in Northern Ireland in order that people can get the health care they need. It is not an ideal setting. We would obviously like to do that locally, and in time I think that will be possible. However, in the meantime I think it is good-----

The Tánaiste's time is up.

-----that people can travel to Belfast or, in some cases, Derry to ensure they can get the vital operations they need quickly.